By Menios Papadimitriou
Early Greek immigrants to the United States thrived because of the Democratic ideals of the American nation that respected the rule of law and notions of equality. Free expression of religious tradition was one hallmark of this. As the Greek-American population grew, Greek Orthodoxy flourished in kind because of local respect for the Greeks’ (and other Orthodox groups) cultural and religious differences.
During the pre-founding and nascent periods of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, bishops in America embraced cultural plurality and religious diversity by engaging in Ecumenical and Interfaith dialogue and collaboration. This continued through the present and Archbishop Elpidophoros of America remains a strong exponent of ecumenical and interfaith cooperation.
In his first address to the National Clergy-Laity Congress in 1933, Archbishop Athenagoras (later Ecumenical Patriarch) avowed that democracy is the actualization of the Gospel within the political domain. He called for “a new perspective of the Gospel” that understood the kinship of all humanity. For Athenagoras, this expression of the Gospel demanded salient action from Christians in the alleviation of all human suffering—“on the social, economic, and spiritual levels.” He encouraged the Orthodox faithful in America to embrace others—just as they and their ancestors were embraced when they were strangers and newcomers—especially in the face of the then-contemporary widespread human suffering that persists today.
Pictured here is Archbishop Athenagoras in a New York Times news clipping, who together with the founder of the Archdiocese, Ecumenical Patriarch Meletios (Metaxakis), was a trailblazer in the enterprise of Ecumenical relations. From his early years as Metropolitan of Corfu, through his tenure as Archbishop of North & South America, and later as Ecumenical Patriarch, Athenagoras maintained strong relations with faith leaders of all walks and collaborated with them on a variety of humanitarian causes.
Pictured with him is Rabbi David de Sola, with whom the Archbishop led civilian relief efforts for the ravages of war in Greece, at Congregation Shearith Israel in Manhattan’s Upper West Side (as seen in this news clipping). The second clipping is from a Greek-American Jewish newspaper and shows the Archbishop with a group of Jewish faith leaders, including those who ministered to the Jewish portion of the Greek-American community at the same event. In both articles, he recalled fondly how he acted many times “as a rabbi” in Corfu for his Jewish compatriots and friends.